THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



103 



kinds and styles of hives extant, ex- 

 cept tlie movable frame. Ilis bees 

 are wintered on sunniier stands, and 

 no extra prei>aration for winter is 

 made. I lianlly thinl< lie goes near 

 them from fall initil spring. Certainly 

 he never knew anything abont bees 

 dying from eating "pollen during the 

 winter. He seldom, if ever, loses any 

 in wintering, and wlien he does it is 

 because they starve or lose tlieir 

 queen — a thing he knows luit little 

 about. Well, when I want some good 

 strong colonies of bees, in May or 

 June, I generally go to this man and 

 get them, and he always has Hrst- 

 class colonies too. I usually tind his 

 hives full of bees, and well-stocked 

 with new honey. 



Now, does any one suppose that 

 these bees do not have plenty of pol- 

 len in their hives V Ot course they 

 have it in abiuidance. as every hive 

 should if the bees are to do well the 

 coming season. Hundreds of colonies 

 do not get an " early start "' in the 

 spring for want of pollen, and to this 

 fact should be attributed, to some ex- 

 tent, spring dwindling. I am no con- 

 vert to the pollen theory. The cause 

 of loss of bees in winter, in my opin- 

 ion, is owing more to the late gathered 

 honey than on account of pollen, or 

 all other causes combined. If we are 

 to succeed in all cases i)i wintering 

 our bees, the fall honey must be re- 

 moved, as is now being done by many 

 bee-keepers, unless known to be of a 

 fine quality, which is the case when 

 the weather is warm and dry during 

 the fall months. Apiaries that are 

 worked for surplus honey, and more 

 particularly for extracted, have all the 

 best honey removed in caps, or by the 

 extractor," and when fall comes the 

 bees fill their combs with honey of an 

 inferior quality. Tliere is not gen- 

 erally time, or the right kinrl of 

 weather to properly ripen it so late in 

 the season. Hencei long before spring, 

 the unripe honev will sour in the cells, 

 run out and daub tlie combs and bees. 

 Dysentery sets in, and before the 

 weather is warm enough for the bees 

 to fly, hundreds of colonies have per- 

 ished. Bees will not do much work 

 inside the liive unless the weather is 

 sufficiently warm for them to fly ; and 

 for this reason the soiled combs are 

 not cleaned, and death to all is the 

 inevitable result. 



When l)ees are managed on the plan 

 which has proved so successful in the 

 case of my friend above alluded to, 

 there can always be found in the hive 

 plenty of earlygathered honey; lience. 

 one of the reasons why this particular 

 lot of bees winter as well as they do. 

 And, again, perhaps flowers that yield 

 honey in the fall unfit for bees towin- 

 ter upon, cannot be found in that par- 

 ticular vicinity, and the bees are not 

 compelled to "subsist six months on a 

 poor quality of honey. 



.Something new will soon be de- 

 veloped regarding the winter problem. 

 I predict that in less than three years 

 a plan will be devised for wintering 

 liees on dry sugar candy. Of course 

 there will have to be plenty of water 

 at hand, as the bees would soon starve 

 on the sugar alone. 



The right kind of a feeder has been 



devised, and some other things nec- 

 essary to make this new idea a suc- 

 cess have been experimented uiiou. 

 When it has been denionslralcd that 

 bees will winter in a temperature of 

 from l)(P to HO- then the winter prob- 

 lem will have been solved. 1 have 

 known for 2') years that liees can be 

 wintered on sugar syrup without a 

 particle of honey, but the plan 1 have 

 suggested is to winter Ihem on dry 

 sugar, that is. candy made by boiling 

 sugar in water until the moisture has 

 all evaporated, when it can be run 

 into cakes or frames to be placed in 

 the hives. I am certain that liees can 

 be wintered by this plan, and if I am 

 alive another vear will trv the experi- 

 ment. But I "will not try it in a room 

 where the temperature stands at 90°. 

 I think .50- or 60- is as warm as will 

 be necessary. The room should be 

 just warm "enough for the bees to 

 work the sugar and water. If my 

 time is not too much taken I may say 

 more on this point by and by. 

 Wenham, Mass. 



For tbe American Bee Journal 



Controlling the Queens. 



W. K. GRAHAM. 



repeat, for emphasis and distinctness, 

 that this writer can locate himself be- 

 side a colony of bees, and within live 

 minutes cause the (pieen bee to come 

 out and allow herself to be captured. 

 Others may be able to perform a simi- 

 lar feat, bill if so, we have never read 

 or heard of it ; and certainly it is not 

 by the plan referred to. This was an 

 accidental discovery of the writer, and 

 by the simplest means imaginable." 



I send a slip from the Texas Pa(ro», 

 published at Crockett, Tex., bv Rev. 

 P.W. Archer.of the Methodist Church, 

 whose son. the Pastor of the M. E. 

 Church, of (ireenville, Tex., gave this 

 slip to .Judge Andrews and vouched 

 for the statement, he having seen the 

 astonishing feat performed many times 

 by his father. 



The executive committee of the 

 Texas Bee- Keepers' Association, fully 

 recognizing the wonderful statement, 

 and the riglit ot Mr. Archer to the re- 

 alization of its value to our brethien. 

 the world over, hereby extends the 

 most cordial invitation to him to at- 

 tend our next convention, when, if by 

 gentlemanly courtesy and a fair com- 

 pensation, the proprietor of this great 

 secret can be induced to give it to the 

 public, we expect to secure it. Here 

 is the article : 



"Probably no insects have been more 

 carefully, intelligenfly and satisfac- 

 torily studied than the lioney bees. 

 Associations have'been formed to dis- 

 cuss them, and books without number 

 written ; and it would seem that there 

 are but few facts regarding them 

 which are not well understood; and 

 well have they repaid the study and 

 toil that have lieen given them. A 

 man that permits himself to become 

 interested in this dei>artuient, soon 

 Hnds himself quite infatuated with 

 the study of these truly wonderful in- 

 sects. There are yet, however, many 

 facts regarding them that have not 

 been discovered, and some that have 

 not been given to the public Among 

 them is this: It is possible to go to 

 any thriving colony of bees, and with- 

 out touching the hive, or in any way 

 disturbing the colony by force, or the 

 injection of any foreign substance 

 within a few minutes, to cause the 

 motlier or queen bee to come out upon 

 the resting-board and suffer herself to 

 be taken up and carried away. We 



For the American Bee JournaL 



Adulteration of Beeswax. 



S. .7. YOUNGMAJSr. 



I see that the ilichigan State Con- 

 vention brotight out consideralile dis- 

 cussion on file beeswax question. I 

 think it an importact one. as wax is 

 getting higher in price, and cainiot 

 always be readily found when wanted, 

 causing serious loss and inconvenience 

 to the bee-keeper at a critical time. 



I think the idea of mixing poraffine 

 or any other substance with wax for 

 comb' foinidation should be discour- 

 aged, even if it should be successful. 

 It would soon raise the hue and cry of 

 adultuerated honey ; besides, it would 

 be the means o"f causing serious 

 trouble to the bee-keeper at the hands 

 of careless and dishonest supply deal- 

 ers. There is some wax that will 

 not stand anv adulteration, as it is al- 

 already too soft, either of its own na- 

 ture or from the effects of using para- 

 fflne or other foreign substance. As I 

 had serious trouble the past season 

 with foundation purchased of regular 

 supply dealers, but I do not think for 

 a moment that they were guilty, even 

 if the wax was adulterated, as it would 

 be as much as any man's reputation 

 was worth to be proven guilty of such 

 an imposition. The foundation in 

 question was very nice to look at, 

 made of the nices't light wax ; not a 

 speck visible to the eye, and ran about 

 6 feet to the pound. After leaving 

 from }>i to '^i of an inch space l)etween 

 the bottom bar and foundation, it 

 would stretch or sag. rendering it nec- 

 essary for me to cut off from J2 to a 

 full inch after the combs were tilled 

 with brood and honey, causing a vex- 

 ation of spirit whicli I do not care to 

 liave repeated again, and which all 

 bee-keepers should abstain from. 



I think there will be great improve- 

 ment in the production of wax in the 

 near future, and there is certainly a 

 great need and chance for it. as there 

 are great ([uantities wasted by the 

 bees for the want of an opportunity to 

 store or liuild comb of it, especially 

 where foumlation is used. One has 

 onlv to notice the w-ax scales at the 

 entrance of a populous colony of bees. 

 I have often jiicked them up" with the 

 point of a pin. and thus soon get a 

 small chew of pure wax. The loss in 

 this wav, bv the scales dropping off 

 the bees during the honey season, 

 must be enormous, and if saved there 

 would not be sneh a dearth of wax as 

 now exists. I also think that l)ees 

 would often profitably build comb if 

 allowed to do so. especially in the 

 spring while stimulative breeding is 

 progressing. The bees secrete wax 



